1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbam here with the story of the Emu War. 3 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: It begins after World War One, when soldiers returned home 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: to Australia. The government was eager to show its support 5 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: for veterans. Take land. The government said, grow wheat and 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: we'll pay handsomely for it. It was a mission for 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: the bright eyed and hopeful, for men eager to cultivate 8 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: their futures. As they cultivated the soil in Western Australia, 9 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: you could say the plan was flawed from the start. 10 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: The government had nine hectares that's two two thousand acres 11 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: to go around, but that wasn't enough for the nearly 12 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: five thousand veterans who wanted it. Land was doled out 13 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: as it became available, and the choicest lots were given 14 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: away first. The remaining veterans got land in Perth, which 15 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,480 Speaker 1: was not ideal for farming. What's more, in the years 16 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: that followed the initial land hand out in the early 17 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, Western Australia combated drought, frost, and a significant 18 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: rabbit infestation. While veterans labored against the elements and the wildlife. 19 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: Mounting financial challenges from the Great Depression threatened to undercut 20 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: all they'd been promised. The Australian government had initially pledged 21 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: to pay the veterans four shillings per bushel of wheat, 22 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: but the bill tied to that sum was killed in 23 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: the Senate. Another bill proposing three shillings per bushel actually passed, 24 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: but the veterans were never paid. At last, in nineteen 25 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: thirty one, the Wheat Bounty Act made good on the 26 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: government's promise to pay for wheat at the staggeringly low 27 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 1: price of four and a half pence per bushel. Let's 28 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: put this in perspective. Pence is equivalent to pennies. A 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: shilling is twelve pence, and there are twenty shillings in 30 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: a pound. In today's market, one British pound is worth 31 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,960 Speaker 1: about a buck fifty. So these veterans were being promised 32 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: smallish sums of money to start, and delivered way less, 33 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: originally promised a fifth of a pound per bushel, and 34 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: settling for just one twentieth of a pound per bushel, 35 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: ten times less than what was promised. However, by this 36 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: point the veterans were desperate to make money. Off of 37 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: their wheat crops, and the stage was set for a 38 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: modestly fruitful harvest. No one could have anticipated what happened next. 39 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: In the annals of history, there's perhaps no stranger of 40 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: foe that the Australian emu, a flightless bird that can 41 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: stand about six and a half feet that's two meters 42 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: tall and way close to a hundred pounds. That's fort 43 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 1: and at an even stranger battle of man with machine 44 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: gun versus giant bird. The giant bird one. But in 45 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,519 Speaker 1: warfare it's essential to know the enemy. So let's pause 46 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: and examine the bird. The dogged the veterans. We spoke 47 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: with Eric Slovak, bird keeper at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. 48 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: He said EMUs are solitary for the most part. They 49 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: do get together in breeding seasons, but EMUs would prefer 50 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: to be by themselves. The exception is when they're foraging. 51 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: Slovak likens that behavior to humans going out solo to 52 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:50,640 Speaker 1: a fast food lunch. He said, you're at McDonald's around 53 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: lots of people, but you're not socializing. You're just there 54 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: for the food. Okay, So they're big, solitary, hungry birds, 55 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: not much of a threat right, um, multiply that emu 56 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,399 Speaker 1: you're envisioning by twenty thousand. That's how many descended upon 57 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: Western Australia in nineteen thirty two. Until a decade earlier, 58 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: in mus had been a protected species. After that time, 59 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: they were reclassified as vermin. Slovak explained, they'll eat anything 60 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: they can get their mouths on without hunting their grazers. 61 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: They like nuts and berries, baby grasses, which brings us 62 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 1: back to wheat. Yep, they'll eat that, faced with a 63 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: seemingly endless buffet of it. The opportunistic birds homed in 64 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: on the veterans plots beaten down by weather at a 65 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: volatile financial market, the veterans leaned hard on the government. 66 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: Help us, they implored, so one Major GPW. Meredith wound 67 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: up leading a military offensive against the EMUs. But there 68 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: were a few conditions. The veterans had to foot the 69 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: bill for the ammunition. Lewis machine guns were used in 70 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: EMU combat, and the veterans had to provide food and 71 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: lodging for the men assigned to this curious mission. As 72 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: a side note, a cinematographer Fox Movie Tone accompanied the 73 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: military to fill the EMU effort. Historians assumed the footage 74 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: would have been used in propaganda films to illustrate how 75 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: the government was aiding its veterans. But spoiler alert, the 76 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: mission didn't go exactly as planned. Armed with the knowledge 77 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: that a slingshot can take down an ordinary bird, you 78 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: might hazard a guess that a machine gun could wipe 79 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: out EMUs easily, but you would be wrong. EMUs are 80 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: made to run, and when shot out, they're going to panic, 81 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,919 Speaker 1: and they won't move in any reliable direction. And emo's legs, 82 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: head and neck move with elegant fluidity while their bodies 83 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: stay parallel to the ground. Slovak explained, the body it 84 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: looks like a wave. The legs could left, the head 85 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: goes to the right, and they run in all different 86 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: directions like dropped marbles. Meredith and his men couldn't get 87 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: a straight shot at the EMUs, who stayed out of 88 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: range of machine guns, even when enterprising veterans suggested putting 89 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: them on vehicles and pursuing the birds as they ran. 90 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: The military wasted a ton of ammunition. Only two hundred 91 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: birds of the twenty thousand were actually killed, and not 92 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: only did the EMUs of aid the troops, they destroyed 93 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: and more farmland in the process, tearing up the ground 94 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:06,359 Speaker 1: wherever they ran. The veterans were dispirited and their land 95 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: was devastated. Meredith had a lot to answer for why 96 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: had so much ammunition been wasted? And was the effort 97 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: even humane? Then there was the matter of money. The 98 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,679 Speaker 1: veterans promised to pay for the ammo, but the mission 99 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: ultimately failed. Could the sun be forgiven? This example of 100 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: ridiculous history can't be tied up conclusively with a tidy bow, 101 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: and some details such as who was ultimately held responsible 102 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,600 Speaker 1: for the cost of the ammunition, are unclear. We do 103 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: know that the veterans learned painfully from past performance that rifles, 104 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,479 Speaker 1: not machine guns, were the best way to handle nuisance EMUs. 105 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: They continued their war in a one to one battle 106 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: Veteran against bird, and the Australian government later placed a 107 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: bounty on EMUs to help control the population. But finally, 108 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: we do suspect that the Fox cinematographer got epic b 109 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:59,119 Speaker 1: roll while on location. Today's episode was writen by Candice 110 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: Gibson and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a 111 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more 112 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: on this and lots of other ridiculous history. Visit our 113 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: home planet has stuff works dot com and for more podcasts. 114 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: For my heart radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 115 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.